1. Sumer Egypt Indus China Environment Power & Authority Technology
Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable
No natural barriers
Limited natural resources for making tools and buildings
Independent city-states
City-states governed by priests, then generals who became kings
City-states later united into empires
Irrigation
Cuneiform
Bronze
Wheel, Sail, Plow
Sumer
Flooding of Nile predictable
Nile used for transportation between villages
Deserts were natural barriers
Strong government organization
Theocracy; pharaohs rule as gods
Pharaohs built pyramids
Hieroglyphics
Pyramids
Math, geometry
Medicine
Egypt
Indus flooding unpredictable
Monsoon winds
Mountains and deserts were natural barriers
Strong central government
Planned cities
Little social difference
Writing not translated
Cities built on precise grid
Plumbing and sweage systems
Indus
Huang He flooding unpredictable
Mountains, deserts were natural barriers
Geographically isolated from other civilizations
Community and family more important than individual
Sharp divisions between nobles and peasants
Mandate of Heaven
Writing
Silk
Coined Money
Used iron
China
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